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Exam Information
Official specifications published by CompTIA
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Skills this practice test covers
- Scope an engagement, agree the rules, and pick a testing framework.
- Gather information and enumerate targets with passive and active methods.
- Run vulnerability scans and validate the findings they return.
- Carry out network, authentication, web and cloud attacks with the right tools.
- Modify short scripts to automate reconnaissance and testing steps.
- Maintain access, move laterally, and report findings with clear remediation.
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PT0-003 exam content
5 domains · 30 topics · 301 of 443 questions are written for PT0-003
Engagement Management13%40 questions
This domain is the professional frame around a test. It covers pre-engagement scoping and agreements, communication with stakeholders, testing frameworks, and the written report with its remediation advice.
Skills tested
- Define scope, rules of engagement and the agreement types a test needs.
- Compare testing frameworks and threat modeling methods.
- Write a report with an executive summary, findings and remediation guidance.
- Recommend technical, administrative, operational and physical controls for findings.
Questions by topic
- Communication and Reporting6
- Compare and contrast testing frameworks and methodologies6
- Given a scenario, summarize pre-engagement activities.12
- Explain the components of a penetration test report.4
- Explain collaboration and communication activities.2
- Given a scenario, analyze the findings and recommend the appropriate remediation within a report.1
- Planning and Scoping4
- Legal and Compliance Requirements3
- Ethical Hacking Mindset2
Reconnaissance and Enumeration21%62 questions
This domain gathers information before any attack. It covers passive and active reconnaissance, enumeration of systems and services, and the tools and scripts that support both.
Skills tested
- Apply passive and active reconnaissance, including open-source intelligence.
- Enumerate systems, services, shares and secrets.
- Modify scripts in Python, Bash or PowerShell to speed the work.
- Select the right reconnaissance and scanning tools for a target.
Official topics
- Given a scenario, apply information gathering techniques
- Given a scenario, apply enumeration techniques
- Given a scenario, modify scripts for reconnaissance and enumeration
- Given a scenario, use the appropriate tools for reconnaissance and enumeration
Vulnerability Discovery and Analysis17%52 questions
This domain finds weaknesses and judges which ones matter. It covers scanning of containers, applications and networks, analyzing the output, and physical security concepts.
Skills tested
- Run container, application and network vulnerability scans.
- Analyze scan output and rule out false positives.
- Explain physical security weaknesses and how they are tested.
Official topics
- Given a scenario, conduct vulnerability discovery using various techniques
- Given a scenario, analyze output from reconnaissance, scanning, and enumeration phases
- Explain physical security concepts
Attacks and Exploits35%107 questions
The largest domain carries out the test itself. It covers network, authentication, host, web, cloud, wireless and social engineering attacks, attacks on specialized systems, and scripting them.
Skills tested
- Prioritize targets and prepare attacks from the earlier findings.
- Run network, authentication, host and web application attacks with suitable tools.
- Test cloud, wireless and social engineering attack paths.
- Explain attacks on mobile, operational technology and other specialized systems.
- Use scripting to automate repeated attack steps.
Official topics
- Given a scenario, analyze output to prioritize and prepare attacks
- Given a scenario, perform network attacks using the appropriate tools
- Given a scenario, perform authentication attacks using the appropriate tools
- Given a scenario, perform host-based attacks using the appropriate tools
- Given a scenario, perform web application attacks using the appropriate tools
- Given a scenario, perform cloud-based attacks using the appropriate tools
- Given a scenario, perform wireless attacks using the appropriate tools
- Given a scenario, perform social engineering attacks using the appropriate tools
- Explain common attacks against specialized systems
- Given a scenario, use scripting to automate attacks
Post-exploitation and Lateral Movement14%40 questions
This domain is the work after a first foothold. It covers keeping access, moving through the network, staging and removing data, and cleaning up afterwards.
Skills tested
- Establish and keep persistence on a compromised host.
- Move laterally by exploiting services across the environment.
- Summarize how data is staged and taken out of a network.
- Perform cleanup and restore systems to their original state.
Official topics
- Given a scenario, perform tasks to establish and maintain persistence
- Given a scenario, perform tasks to move laterally throughout the environment
- Summarize concepts related to staging and exfiltration
- Explain cleanup and restoration activities
Requirements
- No formal prerequisites: anyone can book the exam.
- Recommended: CompTIA Network+ and CompTIA Security+, or the same knowledge.
- Recommended: three to four years in a penetration tester role, with vulnerability assessment work.
- Recommended: an understanding of scripting in Python, Bash or PowerShell.
About the PT0-003 exam
PT0-003 is the current CompTIA PenTest+ exam, for security professionals who run authorized penetration tests. It covers managing an engagement, reconnaissance and enumeration, finding and analyzing vulnerabilities, carrying out attacks, and the post-exploitation work that follows. Passing earns the CompTIA PenTest+ certification. The exam expects hands-on testing experience and comfort with scripting in Python, Bash and PowerShell.
Attacks and Exploits is the largest domain, so the PlanetCert practice test places the most questions there, with reconnaissance next. Each answer has an explanation that says why a tool or technique fits a situation, and which finding it produces. Study Mode suits engagement management, where scoping, agreements and reporting must be exact. Brainy AI Assistant can explain how active reconnaissance differs from passive, or how a chosen framework shapes a test.
How to earn the certification
- Earns
- CompTIA PenTest+Intermediate
CompTIA PenTest+ is renewed through CompTIA's continuing education program.
- Before
- N10-009 CompTIA Network+
Recommended networking knowledge that PenTest+ scenarios assume.
- SY0-701 CompTIA Security+
Recommended security foundation often taken before PenTest+.
- N10-009 CompTIA Network+
- After
- CS0-004 CompTIA CySA+
The defensive analyst path: threat detection, vulnerability management and incident response.
- CAS-005 CompTIA SecurityX
CompTIA's advanced exam for experienced security engineers and architects.
- CS0-004 CompTIA CySA+
How to prepare for PT0-003
- 1
Build a lab to test in
Set up an isolated lab with a few vulnerable virtual machines the tester controls. Practising each objective there is the only safe and legal way to try the tools.
- 2
Rehearse the five phases
Walk one engagement from scoping through reconnaissance, attack, post-exploitation and reporting. Knowing the order makes scenario questions easier to read.
- 3
Spend the most time on attacks
Attacks and Exploits is the largest domain. Practise network, authentication, web and cloud attacks, and learn which tool fits each one.
- 4
Script the repetitive steps
Read and edit short Python, Bash and PowerShell scripts that automate reconnaissance and enumeration. The exam expects a candidate to modify scripts, not write them from scratch.
- 5
End with a timed run
Work through the PT0-003 practice test in Study Mode one domain at a time, then in Timed Mode. Ask Brainy AI Assistant why a tool or technique fits each missed scenario.
Start a timed PT0-003run
CompTIA's own materials for this exam are CertMaster Learn and CertMaster Labs for PenTest+, with the official CompTIA PenTest+ Study Guide.
Who PT0-003 is for
- Penetration testers and ethical hackers who test systems with permission.
- Vulnerability analysts and security consultants.
- Network and application security staff moving into offensive testing.
Typical job titles: Penetration tester · Ethical hacker · Vulnerability analyst · Security consultant · Red team operator · Security analyst
PT0-003 glossary
17 terms from the exam objectives and the vendor's official material, each defined in a sentence.
- Active reconnaissance
- Gathering information by interacting with a target directly, for example by scanning its ports.
- Enumeration
- Listing a target's systems, services, users and other details found during reconnaissance.
- Executive summary
- The short, non-technical part of a report that states the main findings and risk for leaders.
- Exfiltration
- Moving data out of a target environment, modeled in a test to show the risk.
- False positives
- Scan results that report a vulnerability which turns out not to be real.
- Lateral movement
- Moving from a first compromised system to other systems on the same network.
- MITRE ATT&CK
- A public knowledge base of attacker tactics and techniques used to plan and describe a test.
- Non-disclosure agreement (NDA)
- An agreement that keeps what a tester learns about a client confidential.
- Open-source intelligence (OSINT)
- Information gathered from public sources, such as websites and records, during reconnaissance.
- OWASP Top 10
- A widely used list of the most common web application security risks.
- Passive reconnaissance
- Gathering information about a target without touching its systems, using public sources instead.
- Persistence
- Keeping access to a compromised system so it is still reachable later in a test.
- Privilege escalation
- Gaining higher rights on a system than the initial access allowed.
- Rules of engagement
- The agreed boundaries of a penetration test, such as what is in scope, when testing happens and how to escalate issues.
- Scope definition
- Setting out which systems, addresses and assessment types a test may cover before it begins.
- Statement of work (SoW)
- A document that records the tasks, deliverables and terms agreed for a penetration test.
- Threat modeling
- A structured way to identify likely threats to a system so a test can focus on them.